


The Net To Catch Your Fall

by connorssock



Series: Prompt Fills [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, Depressive Episode, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Recovery From Depressive Episode, Suicidal Plan, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 20:05:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16939806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/connorssock/pseuds/connorssock
Summary: For this prompt: Gavin is v depressed, and due to the amount of work he’s had recently, he’s been unable to, or forgot to pick up refills for his medicine, so one day he doesn’t come to work. Connor, Hank, and Nines notice, but don’t start to worry for a few days. Eventually Fowler asks them to go check up on Gavin, and they find him unable to even get out of bed or find the energy to pick up his phone to call anyone for help. They then stay w/ him until he’s ok, and maybe become closer?





	The Net To Catch Your Fall

It was the season for colds and flu. Gavin had been braced for it, a bug had been making its way round the precinct and the sore throat he’d been waking up with for the last few nights spelled a few not so great days ahead.

“Morning G-Man!” Tina chirped at him as he walked past her desk.

“Morning,” he said. Or tried to, but it was more of a hoarse croak.

“Well shit dude, sounds like you went to town on a hundred dicks last night.” It was reassuring to know that Tina was a sympathetic as ever.

“I wish,” Gavin shot back with a grin.

“Want me to grab you some throat soothers?”

She was alright after all; her heart was in the right place. All the same, Gavin waved her off.

“I need to go to the pharmacy anyway; I’ll pick some up then.”

Of course, he didn’t get a chance to go to the pharmacy. They were called to a crime scene half an hour before he finished work. By the time they were done the pharmacy had long since shut. There was always the next day.

Unfortunately, the next day was no different to the previous one. By the time Gavin could get to the pharmacy it was shut. He shrugged, he had a few days leeway, he was organised and knew how to keep his shit together. It was going to be fine.

If it wasn’t going to interview potential witnesses, it was a meeting that over ran or getting caught up in paperwork that needed to be urgently filed. Getting a warrant was no laughing matter and even a day’s delay could mean the difference between a successful case and evidence being destroyed. A packet of throat sweets landed on Gavin’s desk.

“Since you still haven’t managed to cough up your lung, no matter how hard you’re trying,” Tina said and walked away.

“Thanks,” Gavin tried to yell after her but his voice came out more as a whine.

He popped a lemon flavoured sweet in his mouth and tried to ignore the sluggishness that had been creeping through his body.

Things were getting worse though. He struggled to focus on his work which he could blame on his cold but the blanket of indifferent dread that shrouded him wasn’t so easy to dispel. Finally, he had the time to go to the pharmacy. It had been almost 2 weeks he’d been trying to go. Of course it was the day he left his prescription at home.

The clock ticked over six and Gavin pushed away from his desk. There was no point in staying to finish the report he’d been staring at for the last three hours. It wasn’t like anyone was ever going to read it anyway. He walked out of the precinct and didn’t look back.

His desk was empty the next day. A few people cast curious glances at it but people assumed Gavin had finally succumbed to the bug going round and had decided to take a day off to recover. When his seat stayed empty the following day and the day after, Nines began to worry. He approached Captain Fowler with well-intentioned questions and didn’t expect the blunt answers he got.

Fowler had no idea where Gavin was, he didn’t pick up his phone, reply to e-mails. For the time being, he could be signed off as absent due to sickness but if he didn’t get in touch soon, Fowler couldn’t cover for him.

“Why don’t you pop round his? Check in with him. It’s unusual to take so long off without at least a message,” he’d suggested.

It got Nines thinking, he didn’t know what he’d say to Gavin upon encroaching on his home. He also didn’t want to do it alone. That’s how he found himself with not just Connor, but also Hank behind him as they approached Gavin’s home.

There was no response to knocking. Not on the first attempt, or the second. After the third time, when Nines raised his hand to knock once more, Hank grabbed his hand.

“I don’t think he wants to answer the door,” he said.

Sullenly, Nines lowered his hand.

“What if he’s in there and he needs assistance though?”

They could hear Gavin’s phone ringing in the hallway of the apartment block. If the man wasn’t in, he’d left his phone behind. Just to make a point, Nines called it again and stared Hank down.

“Fine, if he gets pissed that we broke into his flat, you’re taking the blame,” Hank rolled his eyes and gestured to the door.

Nines lifted his hand and prepared to break through it

“Woah!” Hank grabbed his arm again. “Easy there.”

He reached for the door handled and twisted it. It opened with a click and Hank shot Nines a look that spoke volumes.

“Always check the easiest route first,” he grumbled.

It was impossible to miss the way his fingers still unclipped the top of his gun holster, ready to expect the worst. The apartment they walked into was stale for want of a better word. It hadn’t seen movement in days and Hank wrinkled his nose at the smell. Nines called Gavin’s phone again and they listened to it ring and vibrate from a room with the door ajar. Slowly, they moved towards it.

The room was darker than expected, the curtains haphazardly pulled shut and the phone lit up the room where it rang on the bedside table. The smell of days old sweat lingered and Nines was tempted to shut his olfactory sensors down but something stopped him. On the side of the bed furthest from the bedside table was an unmoving form.

Connor pulled the curtains away and they stared at Gavin who was curled up in bed, bare shoulder poking out from under the cover. His eyes slid over the three intruders before turning back to the bedside table in an unfocussed stare. Out of shock, Nines rang the phone again and watched Gavin’s eyes track to the noise before returning to his blank stare.

“Gavin?” Connor asked.

There wasn’t even a flinch of acknowledgement from the bed. Hank looked over the room, there was a half full bottle of water on the floor by Gavin’s side, his phone on the bedside table, plugged in and charging. Those he was happy to see. What was more troubling were the boxes of pills next to the phone, indiscriminately piled up but thankfully none of them open along with pen and paper. It was obvious that someone had tried to write something, but sheets were scrunched up with scribbled out words. Whoever Gavin was trying to write to, he had obviously failed.

“I don’t understand,” Nines started and Hank cut him off with a sharp look.

“Connor, tidy up a bit in here please,” Hank nodded at the boxes of pills and the pile of clothes abandoned at the side of the bed. “You, come with me,” he pointed at Nines.

They walked into the kitchen where Hank began to rummage through the cupboards, looking for something easy on the stomach.

“My scans show that Gavin is fine,” Nines started again and Hank slammed a cupboard door shut.

“Does that man look like the walking definition of fine?” he snarled.

“No. I don’t understand. Even his lingering laryngitis is all but gone.”

“Just because your scans show that someone is fine doesn’t mean they are. There’s more to a human than just their body. Like there’s more to you than your chassis and hardcoding.”

While Nines stood and contemplated the words, Hank continued his search. After a moment his eyes fell on the fridge which had a few pieces of paper held to it with magnets. Mostly they were scribbled reminders, shopping list, appointments and meeting dates. Amongst it all, he spotted a vaguely familiar looking piece of paper. A prescription.

“Ah.”

That was all he said before he pulled it free and scanned over it. He frowned when he saw that date and looked at his watch as he worked out how overdue it was.

“Take this to the pharmacy, pick it up. Tell them it’s urgent police business if they give you any trouble.”

Obediently, Nines took the proffered prescription and left. It gave Hank a few minutes to find a pack of plain digestive biscuits in the back of a cupboard before Connor appeared in the kitchen doorway with an armful of boxes.

“I’ve done what I can,” was all he said before he found the empty drawer and began to sort through the pills.

“I know, Con, I know,” Hank laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Baby steps, remember?”

Connor shot him a sad smile and wondered whether all humans were so broken or whether it was a side effect of knowing him. He watched Hank disappear into the bedroom and sighed. He hoped he was just unlucky in knowing so many humans cursed with depression.

Inside the bedroom, Hank put the plate of biscuits down on the bedside table and took a good look at Gavin. His hair was falling in greasy strands, his usual stubble longer, almost worthy of being called a beard. He looked hollow, eyes empty of all light and each breath a slight shudder like it was the most difficult task in the world to keep breathing. It probably felt like it.

“I can’t promise that eating something will make you feel better, but it might be a start,” Hank tried.

When he got no response, he shrugged. He hadn’t expected his voice and idea to work miracles after all. Without sighing, or even expressing any disappointment, Hank walked around the bed.

“I’m going to help you sit up, if you feel light headed at all then squeeze my shoulder and we’ll get you lying back down. But once you’re up, I’m going to but a biscuit in your hand and you’d going to eat it.”

There was no response but Gavin let his arms be positioned around Hank’s neck and put up no resistance to being sat up. His face was sallow in the light and Hank gave him a moment, holding his shoulders to make sure he wasn’t about to keel over.

“Okay,” he muttered and let Gavin go.

It was almost like watching a haunted doll. Hank pushed a biscuit into Gavin’s lax fingers and after a moment they grasped hold of it. Mechanically, the biscuit was lifted to Gavin’s mouth and he took a bite, eyes staring at the far wall. When he’d finished it off, there were crumbs on his shirt but it was the least of Hank’s worries. Instead of brushing him down, he ran a gentle hand through greasy hair.

“Well done,” he murmured and Gavin’s eyes fluttered shut briefly. “Nines will be here with your prescription soon. Things will get back on track.”

He helped Gavin lie down again and wished they were at the stage they could at least change the covers on the bed.

True to his words, Nines was back with the prescription and he helped Hank sit Gavin up again. They pressed two pills into his palm and watched his throat bob as he swallowed them dry. The water he swallowed after it was an automatic gesture, not one borne out of need.

“Try to get some sleep,” Hank rumbled softly. “Nines will stay with you while Connor and I will sort a few things out.”

They left the door half open and Connor’s LED flashed yellow for a moment as he listened to Nines start to talk. It was all inconsequential things, stories from the precinct, the cases they worked on, where they made a difference.  Not once did Gavin even huff out a note of acknowledgement and Connor reached out to Nines in silence.

_His lack of response is not a reflection of you. Do not lose heart._

It seemed to dissipate a little of the disappointment that Nines found himself sinking into and he continued talking to Gavin, even if his choice of stories veered towards the more outrageous.

A quick phone call to Fowler and suddenly the three of them didn’t have a day off together for two weeks. Each day Hank, Connor or Nines was off and they could spend the time with Gavin until he got back on his feet.

“I read somewhere that animals could bring positive health benefits to humans,” Nines mulled over dinner one evening. It was Connor who was sat with Gavin that night.

“I’ll take Sumo with me tomorrow then,” Hank nodded and eyed his dog. “I’m sure Gavin used to have a cat.”

The next day was Hank’s first alone with Gavin. He got there early enough for Connor to be able to get to work comfortably and he ignored the puzzled look of seeing Sumo on a tight leash by Hank’s side.

For the most part, the day was quiet. Sumo had made himself at home in Gavin’s flat, snuggled up next to him and occasionally turned to lick the man’s hand that was buried in his fur. It was the first time Hank had seen Gavin move voluntarily, even if only to thread fingers in thick fur and grip like his life depended on it. Maybe it did.

The next day it was Nines with Gavin. He mostly sat on the bed, on top of the covers and talked. When he saw Gavin’s eyes droop, sleep threatening to pull him under, his voice softened until he was certain Gavin was drawing deep even breaths, eyelid fluttering as he dreamt. The fact he woke with a panting gasp shouldn’t have surprised Nines, nightmares were on par for the course really. But he hadn’t anticipated a hand shooting out to grab at his in a vice like grip. Nines pulled the hand into his lap, the fingers of his free hand stroked over the knuckles until they relaxed a little.

“I’m sorry,” Gavin whispered, voice hoarse with disuse.

“You’re doing just fine,” Nines replied and pretended not to see the tears that trickled across Gavin’s face, tracing the path of the scar on his nose.

With Connor there, it was a little less personal. He didn’t sit with Gavin all the time, gave him space as he worked at his kitchen table. There was the sound of a door closing which made Connor jerk upright, followed by the sound of a shower turning on. With a small smile, he hopped off the stool and walked into the bedroom. It only took him a few minutes to change the sheets, fluff up the pillows and quickly air the room. By the time Gavin stumbled out of the bathroom in nothing but a pair of boxers, Connor was back on the stool as though he’d never moved in the first place.

“Didn’t you used to have a cat?” Connor asked that evening.

Gavin had sat up by himself and accepted the small bowl of thick soup with a brief moment of eye contact. Obviously it was the wrong question to ask because Gavin froze up at the words and his head dipped, hair falling into his face like a shield.

“She’s the neighbour’s now,” he rasped after a minute of silence.

“I see,” Connor didn’t, but he wasn’t sure what he could say to remedy the situation.

“When I last had an episode,” Gavin broke off for a moment for a breath. “When I last got like this, I couldn’t look after her. It wasn’t fair. Couldn’t neglect her like that. So I found her a better home.”

He sniffed and Connor furiously tried to backpedal with platitudes of Gavin doing the best for her, of her being happy in her new home. Nothing seemed to help, if anything it just made things worse and he had to take the bowl from Gavin’s lax grip before it spilled everywhere.

“Because anywhere was better for her than with me,” Gavin gasped and pulled his knees up to his chest.

His tears stopped as quickly as they started but he didn’t take the bowl back from Connor that evening. Even from the living room Connor could head his stomach rumbling with hunger. Humans punished themselves in the strangest of ways for the oddest of things.

Handover to Hank in the morning was a mixed affair. Sumo had been allowed to charge ahead into the apartment and had already taken up his favourite spot on the bed next to Gavin. It left Connor with a chance to give Hank a rundown of all the good things (shower, clean bedsheets and some talking) as well as the not so good (crying over his cat, perhaps it was best to avoid the topic for a bit). All through it, Hank nodded and when he was done and getting ready to leave, Connor was surprised to be pulled in for a hug.

“You did good,” Hank murmured against his hair, “sometimes a good cry is what’s needed.”

Puzzled, Connor left for work, mind racing through the reasons why inadvertently making Gavin cry was a good thing. He drew a blank.

Back at the apartment, Hank knocked on the bedroom door.

“Rise and shine,” he called, “the pill club is moving to the kitchen table today.”

There was no response from the bedroom but he didn’t expect much either. After a minute of puttering around and setting out breakfast, he returned to the bedroom.

“Ready to face the world yet? I won’t even make you dress up if you’re not up to that yet. Just come out and keep an old man company while we take our happy pills.”

That at least got Gavin staring at him, the hand buried in Sumo’s fur stopping. It was enough of a reaction for Hank to retreat, confident that Gavin was going to follow. Sure enough, a few minutes later the floorboards creaked and Gavin appeared in the kitchen doorway. He had even put a t-shirt on.

“Sit, sit,” Hank urged him towards one of the stools as he perched on the other one.

Each place was set up identical, a bowl of porridge, a glass of fresh orange juice and a box of pills next to each glass. Gavin eyed it all sceptically, carefully tacking Hank’s movements as he took his own pills and popped one out. He took it with a gulp of orange juice and smiled at Gavin.

“You too?” Gavin asked. He’d recognised the brand of pills Hank was taking, it was one he’d tried himself but the side effects were too much to cope with.

“Me and probably half the precinct,” Hank nodded.

“Huh,” Gavin huffed out and reached for his own pills. Two sat in his palm as he regarded them before lifting them to his mouth and swallowing them dry.

“There’s no shame about it, you know that, right?” Hank asked softly. He didn’t look at Gavin, kept his eyes carefully on the spoonful of sugar he was sprinkling over his porridge.

“Yeah, I know,” Gavin finally admitted.

It was progress, Hank didn’t want to push for too much too soon but at the same time there was something they needed to talk about.

“That night we first came over,” he began delicately.

Gavin stiffened in his seat, ready to bolt.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Hank held up his hands to placate, “but the door was open, you made it easy for whoever came to find you. No need to call the police, break your door in, cause a scene. Trust me, I know, I’ve been through the same process. The pills on the side, you were going to take them, once you wrote your notes. But you never finished a note. What held you back?”

The silence between them stretched to an uncomfortable level as Gavin pushed his porridge around in the bowl. Finally, he pushed it away untouched and crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

“I didn’t have anyone to write a note to,” he bit out at long last.

Hank nodded, no judgement showed in his face.

“I realised I was such an unwanted fuck-up that I didn’t even have anyone to say goodbye to. Nobody would miss me if I lay down and died so that’s what I did. Wasn’t even worth taking the pills because they would have been wasted on me.”

The outburst left Gavin’s chest heaving and Hank looked over at him calmly.

“Do you still think that?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Gavin ran a hand through his hair the scratched at his beard with a disgusted frown.

“I don’t mean to pry and I know it’s none of my business, but,” Hank took a steadying breath and held Gavin’s gaze, “I thought you and Nines might have a bit of a thing going.”

Gavin looked away at that and he scoffed.

“The poor bastard doesn’t know any better. He’ll find someone more deserving soon enough.”

“Funny,” Hank mused, “that’s exactly what I used to think about Connor. Don’t you think it’s a little unfair to be making that decision for Nines? Rather than asking him?”

“Can’t we talk about pills that make us less miserable instead?” There was a whine to Gavin’s voice that made Hank smile.

“For what it’s worth, I’d have been gutted,” Hank finished his porridge and left the table to do the washing up.

The rest of the day passed quietly, Gavin burrowed back into his bed but at least he was sitting up, back against the headboard and flicking through his phone. That evening he suggested that Hank go home but he was waved off.

“One more night on your couch won’t kill me,” he’d said.

In the morning Nines was at Gavin’s door, knocking politely. Hank opened it with a loose smile.

“He’s in the shower, had enough of beard itching,” he said and stepped round Nines’ and patted him on the shoulder.

By the time Gavin emerged from the shower, freshly shaved to his more usual look and hair towelled dry, Nines had breakfast set up.

“Hey,” a sudden bout of shyness took over Gavin and he struggled to look at Nines.

“Hello Gavin,” Nines replied and held out a bowl of fruits. “I got you some breakfast.”

“Thanks,” Gavin took the bowl and scooped up the box of pills from the side. He popped two out and swallowed, chasing them down with a strawberry.

They stood in the kitchen awkwardly, Gavin munching on his fruit for lack of anything better to do while Nines leaned against a counter and watched him. Eventually, the bowl was empty and Gavin ran out of excuses not to talk.

“So,” he began and rubbed the back of his neck, “thanks. For everything. And sorry.”

“Are you apologising for your mental health?”

Gavin knew Nines well enough to find a hint of incredulity in in his voice. It made him dip his head and mumble his response.

“You are the way you are,” the words seemed so easy, coming from Nines, “you cannot help your chemical imbalance any more than I can help my core coding. We can both try to work around it with pills and layers of subroutines but neither of us asked to be the way we are.”

“I know that,” Gavin kicked at the ground in discomfort, his toes rhythmically stubbing against the floor.

“So you have nothing to apologise for unless you think I should be apologising for being built to be a killing machine.”

“I should have told you sooner, you should have known what you were signing up for right from the start.”

“You do realise I’m a state of the art detective android with real time lab analysis capabilities, right?” Nines let out a small smile as Gavin’s head snapped up in disbelief.

“You knew all along?”

“I happen to enjoy analysing everything about the one I love.”

The bowl went clattering from Gavin’s hand and he stepped away with wide eyes.

“You can’t say that,” he gasped, a hand clawing at his chest as though trying to keep his heart in place. “You’ve not lived enough to know that.”

The unimpressed look Nines shot him was usually enough to instil fear in anyone but Gavin had become immune to it over time.

“If you’re quite done.”

That at least shut Gavin up. Patiently, Nines offered up an arm in invitation for a hug and he tried his best not to roll his eyes when Gavin looked hesitant.

“I won’t bite. Unless you ask me to.”

“Prick,” Gavin huffed out a laugh and stepped over the bowl that had cleaved in two as it fell.

“Are you quite done having an existential crisis?” Nines asked even as he wrapped Gavin in his arms and rested his chin on top of his head.

He could feel the brush of a smile against his collarbone and Gavin burrowed in a little closer.

“I’m not sure yet. Might have to stand here a little longer to make sure.”

Nines let him cling on, ignored the little shiver that passed through Gavin every now and then as he fought whatever inner demon it was that had reared its ugly head again.

“Tomorrow,” Gavin mumbled into his chest,” “we’re going to work. And I’m buying you, Hank and Connor the biggest gift baskets I can find.”

“Or you could ask us to help next time you find yourself in need. Preferably before things hit rock bottom,” Nines tried to compromise.

“Can’t promise that,” Gavin shook his head and looked up at Nines with wide eyes. “But I can promise to try my best.”

“That’s all I ask,” Nines replied and leaned down to press a kiss to his lips.

The next morning when Connor knocked on the door, both Nines and Gavin were ready to head to work. They bundled into the taxi alongside Hank who smiled warmly at them all before pulling Connor’s hand into his and linking their fingers. Shyly, Gavin reached out for Nines and grinned when they did the same.

**Author's Note:**

> Still on tumblr as @connorssock and testing the waters of Pillowfort as @vaderina.


End file.
